Green turf will continue to cover most areas of Main Beach Park, a landmark in Laguna Beach that has become known as the “Window to the Sea.”

The City Council on Tuesday, Oct. 15 considered changing the grass to drought-tolerant landscaping or sand as part of an overall plan to renovate the beachfront park located in the town’s center along Coast Highway near Broadway Street. The park is a popular tourist destination with a boardwalk, basketball and volleyball courts; a children’s playground; and tidepools.

It is also home to the Laguna Beach Lifeguard’s headquarters renovated in 2014.

While Councilman Peter Blake favored removing the grass entirely — partly, he said, because he felt it invited homeless people to congregate there — most of the council opted to keep the grass but directed city staff to look for a more drought-tolerant option.

The city spends $40,000 a year to maintain the turf at Main Beach — about $20,000 is used for watering. The grass, restrooms, showers, drinking fountains, and non-turf planters need three million gallons of water a year; it takes two million gallons to water the turf.

Laguna Beach City Council this year budgeted $600,000 to renovate the park — $100,000 for design and $500,000 for construction. Other park upgrades will include more attractive trash bins, new park benches, upgraded lanterns, and improvements to the cobblestone areas at the middle and south end of the park.

The park was dedicated in 1974.

“The cobblestone areas have cracks,” Shohreh Dupuis, assistant city manager and director of public works, said. “The northern end is visited by pigeons. It’s cleaned once a month but we can’t keep it clean. There is also a significant issue on the maintenance of the wooden park benches. We paint them twice a year. The light fixtures along the boardwalk are from 1945 — we had to specially make a light fixture to replace some broken ones.”

The council’s recommendations will be given to a designer to incorporate into conceptual plans, which would then be reviewed by the Planning Commission. The council would need to give a final OK before bids go out for construction. The park’s renovation could start in two years.

About a dozen residents weighed in, Tuesday, with most in favor of keeping the grass.

“I want to save the grass. You’re cutting to the bone if you take that,” said Jan Hobbs. “That is a memorable view.”

Bob Borthwick, a local landscape architect, was involved in the park’s original design in 1970s.

“To spend $100,000 to look at redoing the park is an expense that is unnecessary,” he said. “The uses the turf provides are multifaceted: beauty, handicapped people can enjoy the ocean which they couldn’t do if it was sand or drought-tolerant. The water cycle could be changed — I’ve seen a lot of overspraying.”

Others, such as resident Jennifer Zeiter, wondered if the main reason to remove the grass was to stop homeless people from camping at Main Beach.

“I think Main Beach is pathetic,” he said. “It doesn’t do anything for me. I’m there all the time and I don’t see any of you down there. It’s become a place for tourists to come and vagrants to camp out. ‘Window to the Sea’ is a window to ignorance.”

Mayor Bob Whalen favored keeping most of the turf.

“I don’t think we should design Main Beach over 20 to 30 homeless — they need to be policed,” he said. “We need to look for more drought-tolerant grass and better irrigation.”

Erika Ritchie reports on South Orange County coastal communities, military issues and Camp Pendleton for the OC Register. She explores everything from coastal access, environmental issues and marine life to city government, animal welfare and quality of life. She’s won many awards including first place in news (2016) by the Orange County Press Club for her coverage of record numbers of whale entanglements off the California coast. Erika’s covered military change of command and seen military affairs firsthand from the sea aboard a battleship, air from a MV-22 Osprey, and land including Pendleton’s International war games and San Clemente Island’s ordnance ranges. Journalism allows Erika’s penchant for telling human stories of conflict, struggle and joy. Her monthly Everyday Hero feature does just that, highlighting achievements of some of Orange County’s most dedicated volunteers and non-profit leaders. Since joining the Register in 2001, she’s at times covered every city in South Orange County delving into development, housing, transportation, county government and social issues. She’s often written about Saddleback Church and Pastor Rick Warren’s emerging national and global roles. Erika’s passionate about animals and outdoor adventure. She runs, stand-up paddles and skis - both alpine and x-country. She frequents Mammoth Lakes and Mountain for hiking, biking & skiing and for her dogs to frolic in the snow and lakes. She grew up bilingual in German and conversational in French.

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